Today we started at the Schloss Neuhaus, about 4 km from the city center in a quiet part of town with flowing water and lots of huge chestnut trees. This beautiful white castle with black tile roofing (think palace) was the former residence of the Paderborn prince bishops. It was surrounded by a moat with ducks and water creatures that looked like long-tailed muskrats called Nutria.
The castle dates back to the 1200s, updated along the way. Now they say it’s from the early Weser Renaissance era. There is a lovely Baroque garden in the front.
Following the secularisation and the annexation of Paderborn by Prussia, the Schloss fell into the hands of the state. Apart from a few years during the French rule of the Kingdom of Westphalia under Jérôme Bonaparte (Napoleon’s brother), Schloss Neuhaus served as a garrison for different military regiments all the way until 1959 when the British army handed the Schloss back to the German state. It has served as a school and museum ever since and so little of the original furnishings remain. Right now it’s a high school and a civil registry and a place for weddings (one was going on today).
Volker Bastert, our wonderful guide, lives here in Paderborn.
Wedding festivities going on in the Schloss courtyard.
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 